This blog covers any subject that may be on my mind that day. Don't expect specific subjects.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

How Are You Doing, America? Trick or Treat?

31 October 2009

To know how the economy is really doing, I use the measure of my own eyesight and ability to “google” for facts related to the economy.
Here in Michigan, we are hurting. Everywhere I ride around town, there are new foreclosures. This includes every income level, not just poor workers from the factories who have been laid off. This foreclosure crisis is hitting everyone.
And I wonder, “Is anyone in Washington going to take note and start giving a bailout to the workers who are, after all, the people who worked to create the wealth that the rich are now enjoying.” They seem to have forgotten that it IS the worker who makes the country rich or poor, not the bankers and the wealthy. Of course, the wealthy think that it's there generosity in creating jobs by building corporations that is the generator of wealth in a country. Everyone knows better than this. Everyone. But, the historical memory of the “brilliant” economists covers a range of not over one or two decades. Anything that occurred before that is out their minds. They don't recall it and don't want to.
States are being forced to shut down various services and use every cost cutting measure available because the worker, who pays the taxes, is hurting financially, and just doesn't have the money to pony up for taxes.
How many millions of foreclosures do we have at this point? And, all of these are homes that no longer pay into the tax base to support state and local governments. Plus, the recession is not over with. That's propaganda. There's more trouble coming for home-owners and the American economy: [from ezinearticles.com http://ezinearticles.com/?Second-Wave-of-Foreclosures-Due-in-2009-As-Option-ARMs-Default&id=1252213 ]
Second Wave of Foreclosures Due in 2009 As Option ARMs Default

“If the previous year of record foreclosure rates, falling home values, a declining stock market, and continuing inflation have seemed like too much catastrophe for the US economy to bear, just wait. There will be no short term recovery in the housing market; in fact, foreclosures will continue to increase and property values will keep falling for at least the next year, with a second wave of foreclosures set to begin in the spring of 2009.”
And, guess what, the big-boy economists haven't noticed yet. They're still laser-focused on fixing the banks/financial institutions and supporting the wealthy.
As stated in an article on uruk.net, “ While the Obama administration has spent trillions to bail out the banks and financial speculators, it has done next to nothing to address the massive employment.” See: http://www.uruknet.info/index.php?p=m59568&hd=&size=1&l=e
How long before the fallout from the massive unemployment impinges upon the coffers in Washington? Think income taxes. In an excerpt from the same article: “Meanwhile, the real living conditions for regular people are becoming more and more intolerable. Wages for non-managerial workers have fallen by 1.4 percent so far this year, according to an article in USA Today, and are on track for even further declines. The official unemployment rate has reached 9.8 percent, and when one takes into account discouraged workers and people who are underemployed, it is at 17 percent.”
Sooner or later, this fall in income and resulting fall in collected tax revenues will hit Washington. Of course, the genius economists don't consider this significant as they are watching the stock market which is no real indicator of the American economy, but is an indicator of the international economy. I'm really beginning to think that the guys in Washington are really focused on running the world economy, not the American economy. Has the New World Order already installed itself in Washington? It appears it has. So, what this means for the working class American, is that you are on your own. You are not going to get any help from Washington.
Our governor in Michigan had high hopes for the good outcome for the people of Michigan in terms of jobs created from the stimulus package, but the real figures are severely disappointing: “In some states, the impact of federal programs has been negligible—including about 400 in Michigan, which has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 15.2 percent.”
400 short-term jobs amounts to nothing in a population of millions.
I've come to the conclusion that they do not plan on bringing the outsourced jobs back, nor really creating new jobs here, that is, until they have broken the backs of the working person and end up with a population of clamoring-for-any-job unemployed workers who will take any job at any price. This is the real goal.
So, how are you doing, America?